Effect of Internet Service Quality on Streaming?


I’ve struggled for a long time with sound getting much, much worse around dinner time, and in some rare cases I don’t get depth, clarity, dynamics and imaging back until around midnight. Like many people I’ve attributed this to noise on my AC lines. But recently I’ve been wondering if maybe internet service quality is at least contributing to the issue in some manner. When I run tests it appears that speed, jitter, and latency are all higher at times when the sound is poor. That got me wondering if anyone knows whether one type of internet service is better than another for HiFi streaming? For example, is ADSL or DSL better, or does it matter? And what about speed? Particularly interested in anyone who has real world experiences from experimenting in this area…
nyev

like others have said in this thread, I think it must be a power issue as opposed to network.

That is where I was headed. I haven't had any comments regarding my comment on ev's, so let me elaborate. Where @nyev and I live in BC there is zero incentive for off-peak hours to charge ones electric car, unlike most states which have adopted time of use for electricity to attempt to shift the load on the grid and balance the system. Therefore, without incentive to change ones habits people will do what is most convenient- charge their car when they get home from work, the same time as they turn their electric heat on (there are many homes on the island without gas, and it has been cold in BC lately), turn the lights on, and start their microwaves, ovens, TV's, then put in a load of laundry etc. The reason for peak demand for electricity and the reason for the poor sound quality, I am assuming due to the increased noise on the lines moreso than actual reduced capacity- I think our infrastructure has eliminated the potential for brown-outs. Most or all here know about this, I am not saying anything you all don't know already, but maybe all aren't aware in my case at least when I plug in it is a 240/60amp breaker? Which is the same amount of electrical draw as 2 arc welders. Now imagine there are 3 neighbors on the same transformer as the OP, essentially 6 arc welders are being used the same time as he wants to listen to his tunes, and of course in addition to all of the other "peak use" electricity appliances listed above. What if it is 10 neighbors with ev's? Which is quite possible. It must have some effect on the quality of our electricity. The term "peak electricity use" did exist before electric vehicles, now it is even more of a factor.

Maybe grounding boxes will help, but that would be an expensive shot in the dark to hope it’s the solution! I’ll keep trying things.

It is definitely more cost effective to just not listen critically during 4-7 pm 😁

@mvanwoert  Google "Roon buffer size" and you'll find several useful discussions about this.

Open up the Roon ap, right click on your DAC / streamer and then scroll to the bottom and look under advanced options.

@nyev Have you considering running your system on batteries?   I have an Ecoflow Delta 2 Max and a Growatt 1300, (both are lithium iron phosphate with pure sine wave inverters) and I can run my system on them for over 24 hours before recharging.  

@tonnesen that is a very interesting option (running off of batteries).  Are there any downsides to the SQ vs other more traditional alternatives?  

I did read a report from a fellow Audiogoner who had much experience with conditioners before going to a Stromtank - which is a very, very expensive solution.  But even that he mentioned in a post that he felt there was some loss of dynamics.

@nyev is your amp plugged into the PSM156? Reason I’m asking is, when I had this power conditioner I noticed a very significant reduction in dynamics. I always had the amp plugged into the wall outlet because of it. Even the DAC and preamp were affected. I ended up selling the PSM156 and I have everything plugged into the wall now. I would at least try running the amp directly from the wall for a week or so. See what happens.